Sarah Benson News

Soho Rep. kicks off its 2019-20 season with the U.S. Premiere of Zawe Ashton's for all the women who thought they were Mad. Directed by Whitney White (What to Send Up When It Goes Down), Ashton's play is a feverish inquiry and exposé. In it, multigenerational African diasporic voices gather around a woman, Joy. With Ashton's trenchant, irreverent, and lyrical writing, Soho Rep. continues its tradition of presenting works by playwrights whose experimentation with language, social commentary, and piercing wit turn the theater into a space that brims with possibility and danger.

Theatre Bay Area, one of the largest regional performing arts service organizations in North America, has announced the finalists of the 2019 TBA Awards. The sixth-annual TBA Awards Celebration will take place on Monday, Nov. 4 at the Herbst Theatre (401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco).

Soho Rep. announces its 2019-20 season, kicking off with Zawe Ashton's for all the women who thought they were Mad.

Theatre for a New Audience announces a second and final extension of Soho Rep.'s production of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, staged by Sarah Benson and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly.

Vassar & New York Stage and Film have announced the next wave of casting for the highly anticipated 35th Powerhouse Season in Poughkeepsie, NY, which continues through Sunday, July 28.

In the past few weeks, we've watched the nominations roll in. Today the final crop of nominees have been revealed, all leading to next week's ultimate announcement- the 2019 Tony nominations.

The Drama League (Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Executive Artistic Director) today announced the 2019 Drama League Awards Nominees for Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and the much-coveted Distinguished Performance Award. The nominations were announced this morning by the current stars of Waitress, Shoshana Bean and Jeremy Jordan, at the official announcement event at Sardi's Restaurant, which was streamed live online here at BroadwayWorld.

Theatre for a New Audience has announced a four-week extension of Soho Rep.'s production of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, staged by Sarah Benson and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly. The original cast has reunited for the June 2 June 30 engagement and will now continue for the extension, July 2 July 28, 2019, on the Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, TFANA's state-of-the-art home in the Brooklyn Cultural District.

In the past few weeks, we've watched the nominations roll in. Today the final crop of nominees have been revealed, all leading to next week's ultimate announcement- the 2019 Tony nominations.

Vassar & New York Stage and Film announce the programming lineup for their upcoming 35th Powerhouse Season, the annual summer season that brings together some of today's most influential theatrical voices for fully-staged productions, workshop presentations, readings, and other works in progress for theater, film and television.

The Drama League (Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Executive Artistic Director) today announced the 2019 Drama League Awards Nominees for Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and the much-coveted Distinguished Performance Award. The nominations were announced this morning by the current stars of Waitress, Shoshana Bean and Jeremy Jordan, at the official announcement event at Sardi's Restaurant, which was streamed live online here at BroadwayWorld.

Soho Rep. presents the New York Premiere of Obie Award-winning playwright Christopher Chen's Passage (April 23-May 26), a fantasia on colonialism past and present that asks the question: if Country Y occupies Country X, can someone from Country X and someone from Country Y ever form a mutual relationship? Directed by Saheem Ali, Passage is a playful and gripping experiment that isolates power as the sole differentiator between people challenging the arbitrary binaries that define how we live.

Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director, Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) has announced that the entire original cast of Soho Rep.'s production of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, staged by Sarah Benson and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly, will return for the TFANA engagement from June 2-30, 2019, on the Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, TFANA's state-of-the-art home in the Brooklyn Cultural District. The return engagement marks the first opportunity for New York audiences to experience this bold, innovative work since its sold-out, thrice-extended world premiere at Soho Rep. Fairview single tickets are on sale to the public today.

Ars Nova, "one of the most adventurous Off-Broadway companies" (New York Times), under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Jason Eagan and Managing Director Renee Blinkwolt, is proud to announce that tickets are on sale for Mrs. Murray's Menagerie, created by The Mad Ones and Phillip James Brannon, Brad Heberlee, Carmen M. Herlihy and January LaVoy. Directed by Lila Neugebauer, Mrs. Murray's Menagerie kicks-off Ars Nova at Greenwich House and marks The Mad Ones' first production since their critically acclaimed play Miles For Mary.

Soho Rep., which provides a platform for vastly diverse artists to realize their boldest visions, in productions that are regularly among the most ambitious and acclaimed offerings of the theater season, will convene many of its collaborators and supporters at its 2019 Spring Fete, Monday, April 8, at Tribeca Rooftop (2 Desbrosses Street, New York, NY 10013).

The Signature Theatre production of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and Residency 1 playwright Lynn Nottage and directed by Obie Award-winner Kamilah Forbes, recently celebrated opening night on The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center. Check out photos from the evening below!

Blockchain Theater Project (BTP), founded by Sofia Alvarez and Nicola Korzenko, is a new theater company that empowers artists to produce the work they create, funded in part by cryptocurrency donations. Like Bitcoin and other blockchains, BTP eliminates the institutional gatekeeper, creating a peer-to-peer model of support where the next play to be produced will be nominated by the playwright of the current production. Alvarez's NYLON will start this chain.

Jeffrey Horowitz announces that TFANA will extend its current four-play season to five plays and present Soho Rep.'s production of Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview, staged by Sarah Benson. Fairview will play June 2-30, 2019, on the Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, TFANA's state-of-the-art home in the Brooklyn Cultural District. The return engagement marks the first opportunity for New York audiences to experience this bold, innovative work since its sold-out, thrice-extended world premiere at Soho Rep. Fairview is currently only on sale as part of TFANA's two-play subscription package of Fairview and Julius Caesar.

Ars Nova has announced the Ars Nova at Greenwich HouseWarming Party, a benefit performance of Freestyle Love Supreme with Lin-Manuel Miranda that will take place on Sunday, March 3, 6pm at Ars Nova at Greenwich House (27 Barrow Street, Manhattan). The HouseWarming Party will celebrate Ars Nova's expansion into the historic Greenwich House Theater and support the development of new artistic programs at two New York theaters: Ars Nova at Greenwich House and the Ars Nova Hub on 54th Street.

The 2017-2019 Lab Culminates with Free Presentations from Collaborative Partners Shayok Misha Chowdhury & Virginia Grise, Ann Marie Dorr & Paul Ketchum, Jen Goma & Kristine Haruna Lee, Raja Feather Kelly & Daaimah Mubashshir, and Julia Mounsey & Peter Mills Weiss